Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.

New time for Weed'em & Reap Garden Club!!

Actually,it had changed for the last one but Yours Truly forgot. Barbara reminded me gently. :-)

We have now moved into our fall meeting time of 6:30 PM at the Ag Extension office 2105 Midland Road in Shelbyville.

I added the name Shelbyville to encourage others outside of Shelbyville to find us and come. It is not a "Shelbyville" garden club, it is a Bedford County club open to all including foreigners from Murfreesboro, or Columbia, Tullahoma...

Did you get the point? We are open to everyone but happen top meet in Shelbyville.

Just when I think the garden has started to stop, old plants become new again. I guess a second wind from the heat.

I tilled a couple of beds last week and will start working them into shape for my garlic and cold weather plants. Actually, I am running a little late on those but the heat may have made them bolt so I held off. Besides, I plant to protect them and take them as far into winter as I can.

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Whew,....Glad I didn't miss it, I've had my head in recipes a few days...maybe I'll have a few guinea pigs to test my newest creation on...fennel anyone?...Hey, you ain't gotta spare, small pie punkin' laying out there by chance, do ya?

-- Posted by chefgrape on Sat, Sep 21, 2013, at 6:39 PM

No, sorry. Pumpkins take up too much room.

-- Posted by stevemills on Sun, Sep 22, 2013, at 7:37 AM

Judy will be late due to the play (Headless Horseman) at the Fly.

I should be there if my brother gets done in time to bring me.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Fri, Sep 27, 2013, at 6:27 PM

Who would have thought that a headless horseman would hold someone up. :-)

Thanks for all who attended. By now you know I was not able to be there, but I should not miss again.

-- Posted by stevemills on Sat, Sep 28, 2013, at 7:47 PM

I have a challenge for you -- ground wasps. I have been stung 25 times in 5 days. Nothing seems to kill them. Only plus to this is I have lost 10 pounds since being stung. Could that be the reason?

Anyway, any suggestions as to how to nuke the little suckers?

-- Posted by cherokee2 on Sun, Sep 29, 2013, at 4:35 PM

Sorry for the slow response. I was literally out of the our world and had trouble accessing the T-G website for some reason. I will post some comments about where I was later.

Some folks use bee stings therapeutically but I do not recall one for weight loss. Possibly the pain of that many stings has reduced your appetite? I know other types of pain will sometimes do that to me.

You also may have gotten more exercise trying to get away but that is not a safe way since you could get sudden over-exercise.

I have heard that over time you can actually become MORE sensitive to wasp stings and enter into anaphylactic shock so consider it serious.

In my opinion (and I am not a doctor of any kind) I would keep some liquid benadryl(diphenhydramine) around. I suggest liquid because it is easier swallowing and your throat might swell. It also enters the system a little faster, IN MY OPINION ONLY.

Do you get the idea I am trying to make a point that I am NOT giving medical advice. Consult your physician or you could probably talk to a pharmacist since it is not a controlled product. There is also an epinephrine Auto-Injector for extreme sensitivity but I think that requires a prescription.

Apparently they are located in a well traveled spot? Wasps seem to become more aggressive in the fall.

Wasp are actually beneficial but not when they nest right in your yard and then become a literal pain the _____ (fill in the blank).

I would suggest going to a garden center and discussing the insecticides. Since they are in the ground you might want to get a powder, liquid or dust to apply and apply at AFTER dark. Completely after dark!

They usually are all in the nest but also observe to see if there is an alternative entrance and exit. They could slip up on you, especially if you do not wait for total darkness.

After applying the insecticide, I would suggest putting something on top of the nest in case it does not penetrate completely. In that case the queen could slip past the application.

Of course the Queen would probably not wait around until next day to punish you and she will relocate some distance away, but....

-- Posted by stevemills on Tue, Oct 1, 2013, at 11:19 PM

I am against execution of royalty Steve, but in this case it would be warranted.